Community Centers
Mountain Arts Community Center (MACC)
Located in the historic Signal Mountain Grammar School, the Mountain Arts Community Center is dedicated to the artistic enrichment of the mountain. Each week, local musicians and artists use the facility to provide fine arts instruction to our community. In addition, the MACC regularly hosts concerts, recitals and art exhibits - fulfilling its mission to facilitate opportunities for us to explore arts and culture.
Built in 1926 using local rock blasted from the face of the mountain during the construction of Signal Mountain Road, the MACC is the town’s oldest public building. When it closed as a school after the completion of Nolan Elementary in 1999, our community formed the SME Preservation Fund and created the MACC to preserve the historic building and continue fine arts education within its walls.
The space includes a newly renovated 240 seat theater, 16 classrooms, a kitchen, and an event hall. Information about available classes and facility rental is posted on the MACC website.
McCoy Farms and Gardens
McCoy Farms and Gardens is a beautiful public park available for both public and private events. The property spans thirty-eight acres and encompasses the historic Bachman-McCoy home, carriage house, blacksmith shop, pavilion, and barn. The grounds are also a certified arboretum that includes three beautiful gardens. There is a 1.1 mile trail encircling the land.
The property is a rich part of our local history. It was the childhood home of Martha McCoy, a GPS graduate known for riding her horse all over the mountain. Before her death, she willed a portion of the estate to the Town of Walden and arranged for the purchase of the remaining acreage. Her father, U.S. Senator Nathan Bachman, acquired the property in 1912. Senator Bachman was a Baylor School graduate, the son of a Civil War veteran and a true southern gentleman. He filled the property with flowers, vegetables, and an apple orchard.
The historic grounds are the site of Walden’s annual Memorial Day celebration. It is open to the public daily from dawn to dusk.
Nathan L. Bachman Community Center
The Bachman Community Center was built in 1937 as a new facility for the Fairmount Grammar School. It served as a school until 1999 and became a community center in 2000.
Today, it exists with a mission “to foster a sense of community by supporting programs and events that reflect the needs of all residents of Walden's Ridge, while continuing to preserve our historic building as a community resource.”
The space currently includes a 300 seat auditorium, a cafeteria, 2 meeting rooms, a playground, a baseball field, several garden plots, and an honor system public library. It is home to programs such as Girl Scouts and The Signal Mountain Art Guild, and one of our favorite traditions, the Mountain Opry.
Information about available classes and facility rental is posted on the Bachman website.
Walden’s Ridge Civic Center
Walden’s Ridge Civic Center was built in 1921 as the auditorium for the Fairmount School. After a year-long, local fundraising effort consisting of ice-cream socials, turkey shoots, and watermelon cuttings, the community had enough funds for its completion. Once the Bachman Grammar School opened just down the road in 1937, the auditorium was deeded to the Civic League.
For 40 years, the Signal Mountain Opry held its concerts every Friday night in the Civic Center. The Opry now meets at Bachman, and the Civic Center grounds are available for private rental. Civic League annual dues are only $1.00, and the funds help save Signal Mountain’s historic structures.